Carriers charge law enforcement for wiretaps; often without warrant

Privacy has been a big issue this year and this post will not make you feel any safer.

Let’s start earlier this week, when the American Civil Liverties Union released documents showing more than 200 police departments around the country tracking users locations and dating other information. This information was obtained through Freedom of Information Requests.

Forbes has dug deeper into the prices AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon charge for various requests.

AT&T:

Wiretap: $325 activation fee, $5 per day for data, $10 a day for voice

Access to voicemail: $150 per request

Tower Dump (see numbers of every user accessing a certain tower over a certain time): $75 per tower per hour

Real-time Location Tracking: $100 activation fee, $25 a day

Verizon:

Wiretap: $50 administrative fee, $700 per month, per request

Access to Text Messages: $50 per request

Tower Dump (see numbers of every user accessing a certain tower over a certain time): Between $30 and $60 per hour

Real-time Location Tracking: May not offered

Sprint:

Wiretap: $400 per “market area” and per “technology”, $10 a day, capped at $2,000

Access to Data: $120 for pictures or video, $60 for email, $60 for voicemail, $30 for text messages

Tower Dump (see numbers of every user accessing a certain tower over a certain time): $50 per tower